THE NEW rOKKI H It "' _ I.. / -," ;'-'V :: ... · ,. I n \' II ... II ,,- ..... .......... .-.t ..... - / .; _ :" _" to mi. 11\\\ \\ . 0 0 , -,. ..*0 '-- l" ,,,7J . . · 0 '\ . THE. TALK OF THE. TOWN Notes and Comment I T'S sn: all won er the l! ited States occupIes a unIque posItIon among nations and is looked upon with a mixture of awe and bewilderment. What other country would meet the crisis of hydrogen and cobalt by staging an extravaganza featuring a musical- comedy Army private and old Senator Oh-Be-Quiet, Republican, from Bar- gra via? The natIonal capital, these past few days, has shown an inspired zani- ness It is as though a country town, threatened with being wiped out by forest fires raging all around, had de- cided to meet the situation by getting up a street carnival, complete with floats, fireworks, and dancing on the green. Only a natIon of extraordinary vigor and a certain wild imagina- tion would face the riddle of nuclear war by raising a point of order and trotting out all cameras We just hope it works. T HE longest telegralTI we ever got arrived the other day-a fi ve- pager. It came from the editor of a Protestant journal and asked if we cared to comment on the fact that four hundred one-ton bombs would release enough radioactivity to extinguish all life on earth. He saId that we could write our reply at any length we want- ed to but that he would "like to have it as quickly as possIble." These days, it's hard to tell whether an editor is trying to meet a press date or is trying to prevent the end of the world. T HE editor said that if these un- speakable physical forces are to be brought under control, it can be by spiritual forces only. There we incline to dIsagree. The atomic race is not real- ly a spiritual problem, although the spirit is al ways a help in any bad set of circumstances. W e think it's a philosophical problem, or, to use a dirty word, an intellectual one. It has a kind of dull insolubility about it, too. The East believes one thing, the West an- other. Each supports its position with a weapon so strong that the weapon itself has become a common enemy. either party is willing to stop improv- ing the weapon, lest the other partv get an advantage. Furthermore, both sides, in order to strengthe the weap- on, conduct experiments, and the ex- perImen ts are becoming generally an- noying and ominous, spoiling the fish in the sea and sending innocent bystanders to a lingering death. So the problem of the conservation of natural resources is overlaid on the problem of power balance As the weapon increases in power, the likelihood of its being used in total war decreases, since no man wishes to disadvantage himself, and war would disadvantage all. But the argu- ment remains and the experimenta- tion contInues. " I T is time," said Lewis Mumford, in a letter to the Times, "for the powerful voice of sanity to be heard once more in our land" The trouble- some thIng-in this land, an) way-is that every man thinks his own is the voice of sanity. In spring, probably even the turtle (obviously a demented bird) thinks its voice is the sane one. Mr. Mumford discussed the H-bomb and its capacity to destroy almost, if not qUIte, everything and everybody. It is a good subJect to be sane about, but we don't string along wIth Mr. Mumford's presentation. We do not thInk, for one thing, that "total extermination" can properly be termed "our policy"- meaning the policy of the United States government. Total extermination isn't a policy, anyway; it's a penalty-a modern one-and you can't call it "ours " Total extermination, or TE, is somethIng we've drifted into, like a man we once knevl who told us he'd drifted into the undertaking business. M R. MUMFORD pointed out- sanely, we think-that unlimit- ed power has a way of becoming im- potence. He urged that we adopt "a policy of working firmly toward justice and coöperation, and free intercourse with all other peoples, in the faith that love begets love as surely as hate begets hatred." It's a good program and we're for it. We'd feel more encour- aged, though, if statesmen would drop a few old myths to which they cling and would begin using a few new words. At Geneva, as this is written, the French have signed a declaration of "total in- dependence" for Vietnam. ThIs, the report says, is largely for the purpose of placing the United States in a better position .to lend the Vietnamese its sup- port. Seems to us that if this is the case, VietnaI11 isn't independent of us, nor are we independent of Vietnam. If we were, why would we be fussing around, making trouble and expense for our- selves? No natIon, large or small, is in- dependent of others now, and none has been in many years. Yet none admits it, and each speaks of total Independence as the highest goal when in fact it is neither desirable nor obtainable. You can't have TI if you wish to avoid TE. Hello, Sir Pierson S IR PIERSON DIXON, Sir Gladwyn ] ebb's successor as the United King- dom's Permanent Delegate to the